Four Candles for Metropole

Fourth anniversary café is the Balto
in Saint-Germain.

The Other Métro Provides Free
Access

by Ric Erickson

Paris:- Monday, 28. February 2000:- The weather
has not changed much from last week: it is still playing
its 'one day nice - one day not so nice.' Temperatures have
risen a bit more, so on the 'nice' days it is nearly
spring-like.

For as long as it lasts, Parisians and visitors are
benefitting from this winter mildness. If you read the 'One
Year, Two Years Ago' paragraphs at the bottom of this page,
you will see that mildness is not uncommon in February.

A bit later on, if you are in Paris you will also
probably notice that winter-like weather is not uncommon at
Easter - although it will be late this year; on the fourth
Sunday in April, a little more than a week before May
Day.

Cadeau Metropole!

As we were about to part at Port Royal after a short
'looking for spring' tour of the Quartier Latin on Saturday
- 26. February - Allan Pangborn assumed a formal posture to
give the following speech:

"On behalf of all the readers of Metropole and virtual
and real members of the Café Metropole
Club, on the occasion of Metropole's 4th birthday, we offer
you this gift."

I was surprised and touched. I knew this would be an
anniversary issue, but wasn't particularly aware that
Saturday was the actual day.

Spring in Saint-Germain,
means street music for the terrassians at the
Deux-Magots.

Metropole has never gotten any of the awards you often
see displayed on other Web sites. I don't think the
magazine has been nominated for any of these; not by me,
not by readers. Around here this is considered just. Awards
should only be given for a significant achievement somewhat
more than merely being online.

If the turmoil of our times allows, if awards are still
being handed out in 2006, Metropole will accept one and put
it on a private shelf.

Thank you, all readers and your representative, Allan
Pangborn. The two 32 Mo SIMM bars are something that I will
really appreciate, and they will be a great benefit to
Metropole.

About Your Online Magazine About Paris

Nominally, Metropole Paris first went online on Monday, 26. February 1996.
The actual date was Friday, 23. February, but due to a
change in Web-servers in July 1996, the date was changed to
conform to the Monday issue-date.

All of Metropole remains online. Older issues have not
been reformatted, so they look the way they were when they
were made. As Metropole begins its 5th year, a rapid check
says that it contains about 1950 Web pages.

The last report concerning Metropole's word database
indicated that it has over a million references. I do not
know how many images are contained in Metropole, but will
guess that there are more than 8000.

In January, readers living in 75 countries accessed 1270
different Metropole pages. The magazine changed from a
sub-domain to a 'Dot-Com' last September, so it is a bit
unclear to me whether accesses to the old sub-domain
addresses are being counted - possibly not, because the Web
pages involved are on a different server at the Cadillac
Ranch.

In other words, I do not how many readers Metropole has
- regardless of the computers that may be trying to figure
it out. These same machines sent me no numbers at all for
December 1999 - was it the mythical 'Y2K' glitch?

'Cyberdeck' Cadeau RATP!

Without much fanfare Paris' transport authority, the
RATP, installed four Internet terminals in their Port Royal
RER 'B' station last August.

Offering free access and unlimited online time, this
'beta-test' has proved successful and now the RATP
plans to install the
stand-up 'Net centres in other stations. These will be at
Denfert-Rochereau, Luxembourg and Châtelet-Les
Halles; all on the same RER line 'B.'

On Saturday, Allan Pangborn 'tested' a 'Cyberdeck' at Port Royal.
The units are equipped with touch-screens instead of 'mice'
and they have French keyboard layouts, so these are two
features that take a bit of getting used to.

Allan
checks out a 'Cyberdeck' at the Port Royal RER station.
He's using his left hand as a mouse.

While we were in the station, we ran into
Bénédicte Vidal who was there to interview
'Cyberdeck' users for a tv-radio.com report. During
the time Allan was checking his online accounts and
catching up on news, Bénédicte and I
interviewed each other.

This led to me taking a look at 'tv-radio.com,' which
acts like an enabler for radio stations to broadcast online
- with TV coming soon. To get the full effect of 'Net
radio, you will need to have Apple's QuickTime version 4.1
installed, and a 56 K modem.

Tv-radio.com's software would also seem to offer
independent radio producers a means of broadcasting,
without using the government- regulated airwaves.

Another feature worth mentioning about the Cyberdecks is
their ability to read plastic cards. So equipped, it means
that a user could buy tickets to events, just to cite one
possibility. The units are also outfitted with cameras, so
eventual video communications may be possible.

I thought these might be useful for eyeballing
'beta-testing' users as well.

'Freedom for the Front Page' Booboo

The nickname for this is the 'Expo That Missed Its
Deadline.' Last week I wrote that I tried to visit this
Ville de Paris' exhibition, but was a week too early.

On checking, I discovered that 'Liberté à
la Une' - Freedom for the Front Page' should have started
last Monday. So I put this date into last week's 'Scene'
column, with the mention that it continues until 15.
May.

But the city's info magazine 'Paris Le Journal' didn't
come out on time on the 15th of the month - or it didn't
get delivered to the 14th arrondissement on time, so it was
a week late when I got my copy.

And behold! Now the start date given for this 'Freedom
of the Press' exhibition is given as Tuesday, 29.
February - and it is to continue until Sunday, 14. May.
With city institutions being closed on Mondays, these dates
make sense.

Paris is not a paradise for the
smoke-shy. This bar incorporates a warning on its sign.

This exhibition - if it ever gets started - is supposed
to involve a history of the freedom of the press, so I will
have a certain interest in it because Metropole Paris is in
this line of activity. Also, the city plans to open a
permanent press museum, to possibly be called 'Cité
de la Presse.'

There is some doubt that regularly-published online
magazines like Metropole are 'the press.' This year's
gigantic CeBIT exhibition in Germany which shows everything
new in the line of computing - including the Internet - is
refusing to accredit any online reporters.

To be an accredited as a journalist in France, one must
prove that their major activity is working for the press -
mere diplomas don't count. This 'proof' is usually in the
form of salary slips.

Employers don't like these, because the Code de Travail
requires that the journalist be treated like any other
salaried employee - even if paid 'by the piece.' Salaries
also mean that employers must pay their part of the social
charges - which adds about 30 percent on top of what the
journalist gets.

As far as online reporting goes, the professional status
is moot. The last I heard, the commission that attributes
official press cards in France, refuses to recognize online
reports as a form of journalism.

My personal 'Carte d'Identité des Journalistes
Professionnels' expired in 1991. Even if I paid myself a
salary plus the employer's social charges, I probably could
not get the card renewed - because I am also Metropole's
publisher.

Yet it is the publisher - who hires a journalist to do
reports - who essentially decides who is and who is not a
journalist. This is another sample of French 'logic' as
well as being a classic example of Catch-22.

Café Metropole Club's 20th Session

The 20th weekly meeting of the 'Café Metropole
Club' came off with more than its usual panache last
Thursday. You can read all about it on last week's
'Club 'Report''
page.

Starting this week, last week's 'report' will be re-run
in this week's 'Club News' feature, so you won't
have to go back to read about it.

From either Raspail
or the Rue Campagne-Première, you can shortcut
through the Passage d'Enfer.

However, this week's 'Club News' will not be an exact
copy last week's 'update' version. At the meetings, club
members give 'Ed' tips and other news. Often these can only
be included later, for Monday's regular edition.

For example, today's version will have some different or
new photos - and the repetitive PR nonsense will be cut
back.

This Was Metropole One Year Ago:

Issue 4.09 - 1.
March1999 - The Café Metropole column was
headlined: - 'Strolling for Stories.' 'Au Bistro' had
'Ohhhh - The Winter!' This issue had two features, entitled
'A View of the Musée Fournaise' and 'On the 'Route
des Impressionistes." This issue's 'Paris' Scene' had 'Now,
the Russians Are Coming.' There were four 'Posters of the
Week' and Ric's Cartoon of the Week was captioned 'Skip
Hamlet!'

This Was Metropole Two Years Ago:

Issue 3.09 - 2. March
1998 - The Café Metropole column was headlined
'The Endless Search for the 'X-Generation,' which I never
found. The 'Au Bistro' column was titled 'Beware of Fake
Taxis and Good Money.' This issue had three features,
entitled 'Who Am I? Who Are We? Find Out in Paris,' 'East
of Bastille, Work and Play' and 'Photos: February Scenes in
Paris.' There were four 'Posters of the Week' and Ric's
Cartoon of the Week was captioned 'Eat the
Exhibits.'

The Metropole Paris Countdown to 31.
December 2000:

Even though readers are not asking for any countdown to
the probable beginning of the next century and even more
importantly, to the next millennium, this boring countdown
continues mindlessly with the 9th issue of 2000 because
once something silly like this is started the longer it
goes on the more idiotic it gets.

This new countdown will last only 366 days, minus the 58
days already gone. The official reason for doing this is to
give the Tour Eiffel a new chance to 'get it right' - and
for a leap year it ought to - because so many count-down
fans missed shouting 'Zéro' on Friday, 31. December
1999. The 'unofficial' reason will be revealed in due
time.